The Horn and the Hammer
by GalaxyMuse
Summary: Part one of the Gold Saint Anthology, a series of tales about how the Gold Saints earned their cloths - This part of the Anthology is the tale of two young boys, Aldebaran and Mu, whose pasts and personas are as distant from each other as night and day. It's a story of friendship, overcoming obstacles both outside and inside, and finding where true strength lies.
1. Part 1

Welcome to my fic! I did some research to help integrate the culture of each of the saints into the story, you'll see numbers next to some words - check the bottom of the paragraph he word was in to see the reference. Unfortunately won't allow me to insert the hyperlinks that point to the reference site I used for each reference... so please just take my word for it A

I will be posting other fics in my Anthology here, but they are all separate stories- feel free to jump to the story of whatever saint(s) you like best!

Constructive feedback is always welcome, and I hope you enjoy this fic!

SPECIAL THANKS TO OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION FOR HELPING ME WITH THIS SERIES!

The early morning was a clear gray in the town within the Chamdo(1) prefecture, with a thick fog winding around the ancient columns and brightly colored temples. The humble citizens passed through the streets between white rectangular buildings, gazing up to the grand mountains surrounding their home and quietly chanting their prayers to carry them through the day. Monks in bright red and orange robes walked in the crowd to their prayer sites, contemplating their dogmas in silence or in soft debate with each other. Children rushed past on the streets, chasing each other while their giggles filled and faded into the air.

(1 - Prefecture of Eastern Tibet)

In a small cement home within the city, one family was already wide awake. A man and a woman were seated at a table, tense as they looked to their guest across from them.

Seated there was a man with long blond hair and brown eyes, with two gray dots on his forehead in the place of eyebrows. He was garbed in gray and brown robes, atypical to the formal attire he had become used to wearing for his high position in Greece. He made the choice for plainer clothing today, since he didn't want to intimidate the parents of his potential new aide. Deep down, whether or not he wanted to admit it, he had also missed donning humbler garments. A pleasant look of peace was on the man as he engaged in introductory small talk with the couple.

The room they were in was surrounded in works of metal: bowls, jugs, weapons, prayer wheels and instruments. Made of copper or brass, the pieces looked like they had been made by the hands of a master craftsman.

The sound of a small hammer striking metal resonated through the house, which seemed to be coming from another room.

" Shion, it is a pleasure to have you here with us," the woman said to the man across from her, who nodded in acknowledgement.

"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you," Shion replied. "So you say he's always been like this?"

The man and woman, both with black hair, brown skin and eyes glanced at each other uneasily. "Y-yes. He works in my small forge all day and night," the man said, "He only stops to sleep and eat." he trailed off with a worrisome look on his face.

The woman continued in her husband's place, "We just don't know what to do to help him thrive- his place isn't here. We can sense it."

Shion smiled at them both. "He sounds dedicated to his passion and quite special. I think I may have a good place for him with me."

The parents smiled, relieved to hear that someone could care for their boy in a way that they could not. Shion rose from the table and gave a respectful bow, grateful that the parents allowed him the opportunity to train their child. The parents led him through the house to the origin of the racket. Shion held his breath as he entered the room. Finally, after all these decades, he could feel the psychic presence of a suitable heir to his cloth and craft.

A small, pale boy of about seven was forging a copper bowl at an anvil, striking it with key precision. His long lilac hair was pulled back by a loose ponytail.

"Mu…Mu!" the man called twice since the child was so focused on his work. Mu stopped hammering and looked up. His face seemed at peace, but there was no smile. The father beckoned him over and the boy complied, his plain colored robes just touching the ground. Shion kneeled down to the youth's level.

"Hello there, Mu," the stranger said gently, his eyes trying to meet the little blacksmith's.

"You're here to take me somewhere," the boy calmly said, keeping his green eyes on Shion's chin.

The man nodded. He opened his mouth to introduce himself, but before he could the child spoke again with the same level of composure.

"Then let's go. They'll be happy again once I leave."  
-

The sweltering heat of the Rio de Janeiro evening made the city dwellers take to the streets, fanning themselves or eagerly buying drinks from small wheeled kiosks. Women went in and out of shops, trading stories and gossip, while men in cafes were downing coffee or beer- shouting and debating loudly over the sports that played on small screens. Vibrant music played from radios that were sitting on windowsills of the homes above the shops, with their residents taking in the night sky above.

A boy of seven poked his head out from his shelter of large boxes in an alleyway, ready to begin his evening routine. This tanned boy was rather unique for his age, already towering above most of his kin at four and a half feet. His long black hair was held in a ponytail by a piece of twine; he was unable to recall when or if it had ever been cut. He typically wore a cheerful expression on his countenance, despite his current living situation on the streets. He walked to a busier part of the district, where people were out on evening strolls, playing instruments, or socializing over dinner. Even better, he saw the occasional tacky-dressed tourist. It looked like the perfect place to advertise. He pulled an empty styrofoam cup from a nearby garbage pile and placed it in front of him.

"BEHOLD ALDEBARAN, THE WORLD'S STRONGEST BOY!" he shouted as he pointed to himself, beckoning people to come over and see. He would pick up whatever the spectators asked of him over his head with ease: benches, souvenir-stuffed luggage, stone tiles from the sidewalks and even the audience members themselves. His crowd would gasp in awe as they beheld his natural-born superhuman strength, throwing coins or bills into the cup.

His night was so busy, he hadn't noticed a large man analyzing him from across the way, draped in a long brown poncho.

As the crowds died down, Aldebaran walked away with his filled cup. He eagerly counted the money he had collected. He bounced on his heels as he awaited to buy guavas or papayas- really anything, as he hadn't been able to pay for food in days. While many others like him opted for stealing their meals, the strong youth tried his best to do so only when desperate. When he turned the corner to where his makeshift shelter was, a policeman was there to meet him.

"You again! You're not getting away this time!" the policeman said, approaching him with a club in his hand.

Aldebaran turned to run, but instead ran smack into a metallic chest plate. The boy fell back on his rear, holding his nose and yelling a muffled curse into his hand. The same man who had been watching him was there, donned in metallic armor. The armored stranger had short brown hair and bright green eyes, with a strong square chin. He picked the urchin up as if he were light as a feather. Aldebaran dropped the cup filled with his hard earned cash as he struggled to break free from the man's grip. Never had he seen someone with this much strength before.

"He's mine officer, I'll make certain he's not ripping off the tourists again," the metallic man said.

The cop scowled, "Well keep a better eye on him! God knows we have enough of them to lock up every night!" The patrolman turned and left.

"LET ME GO!" Aldebaran wriggled, trying to punch the man's metallic armguard with his fist. His punch only made the metal hum, and he withdrew his hand in shock and pain. He had never hit metal he couldn't bend before. He swore again at the throbbing of his knuckles.

The armored man laughed at the child's tenacity as he put him down. "I want to help you, Aldebaran. I'm Gustavo. I've been observing you, and you seem to be rather strong. How would you like to be stronger?"

Aldebaran squinted at the man suspiciously through his dark eyes, scratching his hair. After some thought, he smiled at Gustavo, figuring the he was probably friendly- he did save him from another night in jail, after all, and something in his demeanor told the child that he didn't have malintent.

"If it means no more cops, I'm in!" he said with a grin.

[2 YEARS LATER]

At high noon in the Sanctuary, the trainees and saints gathered to eat and rest their weary bones from training. They ate their meals with their groups, separating by their members' rank, nationality or the cloth they were pursuing. Passing through the ancient columns and the collections of people, Aldebaran wasn't quite sure which-if any-assembly he belonged to.

He had done well in his initial training in Brazil, having learned the basics of channeling his cosmos and for what purpose his fellows in arms fought for. His level of growth was so impressive, his master-the silver saint who spotted him two years back- sent him to the hallowed grounds of Athens to train further. The now five-foot-tall nine-year-old moved forward awkwardly as he tried to navigate this new social structure- back in Rio, it didn't matter if he fit in with the droves of strangers who passed by, and there were no fellow pupils under his master's training. He still held his hair in a ponytail, although it was now shorter since Gustavo would make sure it was regularly cut.

"There's the Pope's boy over by the back," one trainee said to his peer, within earshot of Aldebaran. He turned to see two boys his age pointing to a spot in the distance, away from the crowd. "He never talks to anyone. I hear he doesn't even look people in the eye! Who does the think he is?!"

"He's probably thinks he's better than everyone, just working with his stupid tools. He doesn't even have to train like us!" the other trainee replied, the two scoffing as they continued their lunch.

Aldebaran, curious, scanned the direction they gestured towards to see if he could spot who it was they were talking about. After a moment of scanning the area, he laid his eyes on their conversation subject.

Mu was sitting alone, several yards away from everyone else. He was clothed in simple brown robes; they were nothing that would indicate his apprenticeship to the great leader of all the Saints. His eyebrows had been shaved off and replaced with two red markings, similar in fashion to those of the man who found him two years ago. To his side there appeared to be a golden hammer-like tool, sitting atop a rag.

Seeming lost in thought as he looked at the ground, he took small bites from a loaf of bread. He turned his head as he heard the soft chirping of a bird beside him. Staring at the creature for a few seconds, he picked off a small piece of his bread and threw it in his little visitor's direction. The bird pecked lightly at it, while Mu observed calmly. Once the animal had its fill and flew away, the child turned his head back to its original positon, biting into his bread as he stared down.

Aldebaran smiled as he observed this small gesture from afar. Knowing the value of having any kind of food, he knew that anyone willing to share it couldn't be that bad. He approached the boy.

Mu stopped chewing when he felt the tall boy's presence. He continued to stare at the ground. "You're pretty big for your age," he said to the stranger.

Aldebaran, now five feet tall, sat in front of him. "How can you tell? You haven't even looked at me!"

"Your shadow made it obvious." His gaze remained fixed on the earth. He was very soft-spoken in his responses, barely showing inflection. He bit again into his bread.

"I-I guess you're pretty smart like they say!" the taller boy said, laughing nervously. "C-can I sit with you?" he asked, feeling a little intimidated by the smaller boy's cooler nature.

Mu paused chewing. Someone hadn't asked to sit with him in a while. The boy was probably new, he figured. Let's see if the giant would stick around after this request.

"Sure, but…can you do me a favor?" the pale child asked the tanned one, looking up at him. He laid his eyes on Aldebaran's chin.

The newbie nodded eagerly, happy to have this "Pope's boy" acknowledging him. Although he wondered if there was a bug on his chin or something based on where the other was staring. He figured this was the "quirk" the two gossipers were mentioning earlier.

Mu lifted his arm and pointed down with his hand to the spot beside him to his left. "Can you sit here?"

Aldebaran complied. "Why do you want me here?" he said as he shifted to Mu's left.

"It's easier for me to talk and listen to you when you're sitting there."

"Without having to look at me?"

The other boy cautiously nodded. Most of the other trainees took offense to his explanation and left at that point. He expected the same now and waited for this newcomer to leave.

"Okay, you got it!" Aldebaran smiled, taking a bite into his turkey leg. It was an odd request, sure, but he didn't mind. He had a pretty great view of the Sanctuary from that spot anyway.

Mu turned to his left where his eyes met Aldebaran's arm. He was still here. Surprising. Taking some small comfort in this, the shorter boy turned back to his bread and ate.

For a few minutes they chewed in silence.

"I'm Aldebaran," the South American said to his colleague. "What's your name?"

"Mu," the youth replied, putting down his bread on his lap and reaching for the rag and golden hammer beside him. He eyed the device carefully before deciding where to begin his polishing.

"Moo?" Aldebaran asked, raising his eyebrow. He had never heard of such a strange name.

"Mu."

"That's what I said, Moo!"

"It's a little shorter than the cow sound." Mu explained calmly, polishing the hammer with care as he spoke.

The other laughed. "Vaca(2)! You're a vaca!"

(2- Portugese word for cow)

The quieter child sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. "Sure," he relented with an eye roll. He had never heard the word before, but at least he wasn't getting hurled the usual string of insults he was used to.

"What's that for?" Aldebaran asked, pointing to the device that the other boy was tending to.

"Connecting joint plates on cloths," the newly christened 'Vaca' replied.

"Wow! You work on making cloths?"

"Fixing them. I'm learning."

"And the Pope is teaching you?"

Mu nodded. The device looked cleaner now thanks to his polishing efforts.

"That's pretty neat! I just punch and lift stuff, but fixing cloths sounds way more impressive!" Aldebaran laughed.

A horn blared in the distance, signaling that everyone had to return to their training. The newbie turned to his dining partner. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Mu turned to his left and stared at the taller boy's shoulder. "If you want to."

"Do you want me to?"

Vaca paused to think for a moment, then replied with a firm "Yes". Company was nice, he decided. He hadn't had that from someone other than his master for a long time.

Aldebaran stood up, pleased at the possibility of a new friend. His shadow covered his lunch buddy, who also rose as he brushed the crumbs off his clothing.

The young brute's stomach rumbled, which caused him to sigh. The turkey wasn't enough to satiate him, not surprising due to his large stature. He was used to it though, from both his training and his time on the streets.

He felt a nudge on his arm, turning to see Vaca pushing the rest of his loaf towards him. His eyes were on the half-eaten loaf.

"You're going to need it more than I am," he reasoned to his acquaintance.

The trainee's eyes gleamed at the offer of more food and took it, wolfing it down in two bites.

"THANKS! TCHAU(3) VACA!" he said with a stuffed mouth, almost ready to burst with happiness as it topped off his stomach. He ran back down to the other trainees, turning back to wave at his friend.

(3-"Bye" in Portugese. Pronounced similarly to the word "ciao" in Italian or the word "Chow" in English)

The other boy raised his hand in response, a small smile forming on his lips. Having someone else around for lunch really was nice.

For the following weeks, Aldebaran and Mu would sit for lunch together, enjoying each other's company. Sometimes they ate in entire silence if Mu wasn't in the mood for talking, or they would engage in small talk about their day. The tall boy would brag about what he had lifted or who he had wrestled with. The shorter would talk about the cloths he had fixed or try his best to explain how repairing them worked to his less academic pal.

One day they were talking about their hometowns.

"Brazil? You must have had really bad jetlag the first day you got here," the blacksmith said to his friend bluntly.

"It was ok I guess, I'm used to lack of sleep from jails back in Rio." Aldebaran replied, chomping into his cornish hen.

"You were in jail?" Mu asked as he ate some rice.

"Yup, whenever the bastard cops found us kids on the street, they'd throw us in for the night. I usually found my own way out of there though."

"How?"

"I bent the bars and made a break for it! They hated it whenever I did that. Kept them off my back for a bit." Aldebaran laughed, remembering his shenanigans back home.

The Pope's apprentice began to grow curious. "What were you doing on the street?"

"I left home. Mom didn't have enough food to feed me and my brothers every night, so I decided to leave." He shrugged with a smug look on his face, "I was pretty big, and so I figured had less of a chance of dying on the first night!"

Mu put down his rice and picked up a book he brought on cloth repair, absorbing what his friend had told him. "You could have starved just as easily as anyone else. Size doesn't come into it."

"H-hey!" the Aldebaran exclaimed. Mu was right of course, as he usually was, so he deflated a little. "Well, whatever. I wasn't that crazy about being home anyway."

"Why?" the other asked as he turned to the page he was last reading.

The athlete's voice took on more of a grave tone as he recalled memories he'd rather forget. "W-well, lots of men would come home each night to see my mom. Whatever they did, it would make her yell a lot. Sometimes, when I saw her the next morning, it looked like she had been hurt too. Whenever I offered to fight back, she would tell me I couldn't-that it was her job to do what the men wanted. My being there couldn't change anything."

"Oh." Mu mumbled, feeling awkward about dragging something out that seemed to be a sore spot for his friend.

"What about you?" Aldebaran asked, hoping to shift the subject off of him.

Vaca's eyes shifted on the ground. "…I had a mom and dad, but they didn't know what to do with me."

"What do you mean?"

"I worked in their forge all the time. They wanted me to play outside more like the other boys, but I didn't want to. I was never interested."

"So you went with the Pope?"

Vaca nodded. "He came one day and said he was going to train me. He said he had been looking for me for a long time."

Aldebaran whistled. "I guess you really were some kind of special kid. Do you miss your parents?"

Mu turned the page in silence before replying. "They're happier without me," he said, his eyes on his book. "That's all that matters."

On another day, they discussed their training before they came to the Sanctuary.

"So what did you do in Tibet, wherever the hell that is?" Aldebaran inquired.

"Trained in the mountains with master. A place called Jamir," Mu replied, polishing a cracked armguard and tapping it lightly with a golden hammer and chisel. "He says that's where my bloodline is from and where cloth blacksmiths used to live. So he took me there to train." He occasionally sprinkled a fine powder on his project- stardust sand it was called, identifying it for Aldebaran when he asked what it was.

"What did you do? Besides, like, learn how to fix cloths?"

"Trained in psychic powers."

"Like when you can make stuff float or read people's minds?" Aldebaran asked. He thought psychic powers were just tricks street performers did with strings or manipulations. He had no idea it was a legitimate skill that could be honed.

Vaca nodded. "He would train me in moving things with my mind- we started small, with pebbles or bowls, but it wasn't long before he'd make me move things like boulders. He'd have me try to read his thoughts, or communicate with him by thinking only. We worked on other things too, until he said I had learned as much as I could for now." he recalled, putting down his tools for a moment to check his work on the armguard. "A lot of the other trainees don't think it's hard though." His voice fell as he stated the opinion others had of his talent.

"Forget what they say! Until they can do it as well as you can, they can't talk crap to you," Aldebaran encouraged his friend, giving him a strong pat on the back.

Mu chuckled through his nose at his friend's colorful language. "I'm glad you think that."

Aldebaran leaned back as he looked up at the sky, remembering his master and their days of training back home. "I remember with my master, we didn't stay in one place."

"No?"

The trainee shook his head.

"Who was he?" Mu asked, wondering just how someone from so far away was able to have been trained and summoned to the Sanctuary.

"Gustavo was his name," his friend explained, "he was the silver saint of Canis Major. He trained me in the mountains at first, where I had to climb up huge cliffs and lift giant boulders with my bare hands," he bragged, looking down at them. "Then he took me to the jungles where I had to break tree trunks, or wrestle with jaguars or gators in the river," he continued, getting more and more nostalgic as he recalled those dangerous regimes. "It would be freezing cold or really hot, and no matter how hard I worked or how well I did, he left it up to me to figure out where to get food. 'Your little show in Rio won't impress the animals or the rocks,' he'd always tell me!" the trainee laughed as he recalled his master's personality, having bragged to Mu before about his street performances in Brazil.

"It was hard, but he said that all of it would help me be able to stand up to anything!" Aldebaran grinned as he flexed his arm muscles to an invisible audience.

The smith nodded as he kept his eyes on his work. "Sounds like you can. In theory at least."

On a cloudier afternoon than usual, Mu had brought another cracked piece of cloth to work on. It was more ornate than the typical parts he brought to lunch. He had several tools with him and a chunk of glittering silvery metal. Aldebaran was surprised to see so many tools around his friend, who looked more focused than usual.

"What's that, Vaca?" he asked, sitting down to eat his usual meal.

"It's a piece of gold cloth." Mu replied, turning it in his small hands.

"G-GOLD?! You've never worked on that before!" Aldebaran exclaimed, having been told of the all-powerful cloths by his master.

"I know," Vaca acknowledged, feeling a little intimidated himself by the cloth. "And I've never worked on one this badly damaged."

"Who does it belong to?"

The young blacksmith shrugged. "The Pope won't tell me."

"Well, do you know how to fix it?"

Mu's ponytail moved side to side on his cloak as he shook his head. "He won't say. He says it's my final challenge. If I figure this out, I'm a master cloth blacksmith."

"That explains all the stuff," Aldebaran thought out loud. He clapped his hands together as an idea formed in his head. "I know! How about I visit your workshop to help?"

Mu looked up to his friend's nose. "You can barely keep up when I explain what gammanium is." He said, pointing holding up the silvery metal.

Aldebaran scratched his head. "Ga-wha?"

"Exactly."

"Oh come on! I have nothing to do anyway at night besides sleep and stare down the other trainees. Am I too stupid to hang out with you besides at lunch or something?!" he asked exasperated as he plopped to lay back and stared up at the sky.

Mu's stomach turned. "N-no," he said with a touch of concern, not wanting his friend to believe he thought less of him. "I just thought you might find it boring." He said softly, hoping Aldabaran wasn't offended.

"Vaca, if I thought it was boring I wouldn't have offered," the larger boy said, sitting back up and looking at his companion with a small frown.

Vaca looked back at Aldebaran again. After a pause to think, he agreed. "Come after dinner. It's over that way," he said, pointing to the direction of the workshop. He was excited to have someone besides the Pope visit him there.

He wondered to himself, as he often did, why his face wasn't expressing it.

The tall boy grinned. "I'll see you then!" he exclaimed, slapping hands to the dirt. His palms buried themselves a few inches into the ground from his strength, as the boy had begun to bulk from all of his training the past few months. He rose to leave just as the horn was blowing.

"By the way Alde," Mu said his friend's nickname, who turned to see what he had to say. "If I thought you were stupid, I wouldn't have told you the right way to go," he said with a tiny smile.

Alde laughed at his friend's sense of humor before continuing back to the training grounds.

The night sky above was clear as Aldebaran made the trek up the slopes of the sanctuary to see Mu. He arrived at a white stone hut in the shape of an octagon, with a reddish glow emanating from the windows.

Aldebaran stepped inside and saw Mu hard at work, banging away with a hammer at a gold armor plate from a large pile of the pieces.

Sensing his presence, the young blacksmith looked up to his friend's nose. "Well, I just think you proved to yourself that you're not stupid; you can follow directions," he said, turning back to his work.

Alde rolled his eyes with a smirk, entering the forge of the cloth blacksmiths.

All across the walls were several sizes and varieties of tools, both familiar and foreign to the newcomer. Pieces of brightly colored cloth were laid out on one side of the room, organized by their state of repair. Tibetan religious pieces, prayer scrolls and wheels were displayed on one particular wall by a window, perhaps there because the cloth blacksmith had been from that region for three generations now.

Melded into one wall was a burning hot oven, with golden tongs beside it. Despite their heavy use, all of the pieces were neatly polished by the Pope's apprentice- he had a fixation on clean tools and organization in his workplace.

In the center of the room Mu worked on the Gold cloth, his eyebrows furrowed in thought as he tried banging it with one hammer and chisel or another, sprinkling stardust sand at various times. However, after a few moments the cracks would return.

While he worked his guest sat beside him, handing him the tools he asked for. His height was beneficial in this manner, he figured.

"What's Tibet like?" Aldebaran asked at one point, staring at the eastern décor.

"Nice…cold." Mu replied, taking a curved piece that looked like a horn to the forge. "The temples are colorful. I used to like going to them. You'd like them too."

"Is everyone as quiet as you?"

Vaca blinked as he thought of an answer. "If you mean compared to you, then yes."

Alde handed him a chunk of gammanium per request. "I wouldn't be able to stand it then."

"Probably," his friend replied as he hammered metal onto the white hot horn. "But you'd probably like the festivals. They happen all through the year. There's one where we go to the monasteries to pray to the Buddha, and they light lots of lanterns and incense. Later we see the ones that the people in town made, in all shapes and sizes. I enjoyed seeing them with my parents." The warm glow of the cloth reminded him briefly of the butter lamps (4) he spoke of.

(4- Butter lamps are often made with Yak Butter or Vegetable oil. Used and displayed during the Tibetan Butter lantern festival)

"Well, it can't be as great as Carnival!" Aldebaran said with pride.

"Carnival?" Mu looked up to his friend with curiosity.

"Yeah! It's a huge party that goes on all over the city!" the Brazilian said, getting excited as he recalled the festival. "There are big parades with huge floats and people in costumes. They play it on TV since not everyone can get in to see it. There are also smaller street parties, and people play lots of loud music and dance all through the day and night!" Alde began to hum a tune that played on the radio during carnival, his hands and feet tapping out the rhythm.

"Sounds noisy." Vaca confessed frankly, cutting him off.

"Why did I have a feeling you'd say that?"

Mu and Aldebaran continued trading stories through the night of their homelands. The forge's visitor would occasionally point to the various foreign décor on the wall, with his friend explaining what each thing's purpose or meaning was. The young blacksmith would ask his friend more about Brazil, startled to see how excited he got when talking about "futebol"(5).

(5 - Portuguese word for soccer)

They operated on the cloth as they talked, with Alde handing his friend anything he needed, and Vaca continuing his work. Despite the focused look on Mu's face the entire time, he was taking in what his friend was telling him- fascinated by his stories of home. It was great fun to share his own memories too, especially to such an eager listener.

Aldebaran noticed that, while in the workshop, his friend seemed to be a little more talkative than usual; his motions were freer and he seemed-if ever so slightly- more engaged with his surroundings.

Sometime past midnight, Shion slipped into the forge to check on his pupil, still dressed in his ornate robes from the day's proceedings. The Pope was surprised to see his small apprentice sleeping soundly on the ground, gripping a cracked piece of gold cloth. He was even more surprised to see that he had company, the trainee with great potential from Brazil. The two were leaning on each other as they slept, sitting by the oven for warmth. The pope smiled to see his pupil with someone else other than him.

It made him recall an old friend he had himself, now far away in China.


	2. Part 2

The next day the sun climbed steadily in the sky, seeming to be chasing Aldebaran up the hill to his meeting place with Mu. "VACA! VACA! GOOD NEWS!" he cried, his face beaming with excitement.

"What is it?" Mu asked, holding the cracked helmet of the gold cloth.

"I'm now a candidate for a Gold Cloth!" he cheered, jumping up and down with glee.

Mu's eyes brightened and a slightly larger than usual smile formed on his lips. "That's wonderful!" he responded with a more upbeat tone than usual, looking up to the bridge of his friend's nose. "Which one?"

"Taurus," a voice from behind them said sharply.

The tall boy turned to see who replied, and saw three other boys their age staring them down with jealous looks. They were training fellows of Alde. The three Greek boys were bulked up too from training, albeit more average in height for children of nine and ten.

"So, spanish boy," their leader said to Aldebaran with his arms crossed, "is this how you managed to get the spot against Tahvo? By buttering up the Pope's boy?"

Alde growled at the ignorant insult. "I earned my place in the Trial of the Bull fair and square Ales! I beat you in the match his morning using my strength alone!" he began to ignite his cosmos, concentrating it on his fists as he smirked. "But if you want to, I'll show you how it's done again."

The other three leapt onto him before he had the chance to strike, kicking and punching him in the face and stomach. With a loud roar the Taurus candidate pushed them off, preparing to attack again. The three other boys were formulating too, but the two opposing parties stopped when Mu stepped in between them.

"I don't do favors for people. If he beat you, then you weren't worthy of the cloth." He said calmly, staring at the leader of the bullies in the chest.

"Oh, so he finally speaks? Here we were thinking you're too good to talk to us." Ales said mockingly, glaring at the Pope's apprentice.

The psychic's gaze didn't break. "You're the ones who thought they were too good to sit next to me."

The intimidator snarled. "So then what makes him so special?!" one of his cronies asked demandingly as he pointed to Alde, who wondered the same thing.

"He actually is good enough," Mu replied. "Now leave him alone."

Aldebaran looked at him in surprise. He didn't realize he was that well-respected by his friend. Snapping back to the situation at hand, he turned to Mu. "Mu, these guys are tough, but I can take them. You get out of here!"

His smaller defender stayed put. "I can take them too."

"Is that so? Then why can't you say it to my face?" Ales asked scornfully.

Mu was silent.

"COME ON! LOOK ME IN THE EYES!" the attacker commanded, stamping his foot with impatience.

"No." the psychic replied, his body beginning to glow gold. A small wind formed around him, shaking his robes and raising his ponytail into the air. Aldebaran looked on, his eyes widening as he witnessed his friend tapping into his true gifts for the first time.

"WHY NOT?!" the Ales shouted, feeling rather intimidated by the display but refusing to let it show. He began to light his cosmos as well in the futile hope of fighting back.

Mu kept his gaze on his bully's chest as he stretched out his hand towards the offending group and replied.

"You're not worth the effort."

In a large gust, all three of the boys were knocked back several yards, hitting the ground with a thud. They rose again, charging at the Pope's apprentice with rage.

"Alde, stay behind me." he said to his friend, who complied with a dropped jaw from what he just watched. Mu closed his eyes and spread his arms out, forming a translucent golden wall between them and the oncoming bullies. As the goons threw their retaliation punches at the wall, all of their energy was sprung back at them. The trainees were soon bruised and bloody from the reflected attacks.

As the bullies groaned from their injuries on the ground, the psychic prodigy turned to his friend and grabbed his arm. In a flash of gold light they were teleported to the inside of the forge.

Alde, absolutely baffled by the sudden change in location, turned to his friend. "Wh-wha? How did we get here? How did you do all that stuff?!"

"Training. Jamir. We've been over this," Vaca replied, looking at his friend's bruised face. He kept his eyes on the tall boy's bloody nose. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, hah, this? Nothing the cops back home with their clubs couldn't do," the Taurus candidate grinned, not wanting his friend to worry.

"Good. I'll see you tonight here then?" Mu asked his comrade.

"Of course, see you!"

Aldebaran headed up the hill towards the workshop as soon as the sun had set. His hurried pace slowed as he heard soft sobs from the entryway. The golden helmet from earlier that day rolled out of the entryway, covered in mud and dirt. Nervously, he picked it up and slowly turned the corner into the forge.

Tools were everywhere on the ground, scattered and in disarray. Cloth pieces were thrown around and disheveled, and the beautiful Buddhist relics and artifacts were torn off the walls. Dirt and mud were smeared all over the golden pieces, ruining Mu's cleaning efforts from yesterday.

Huddled in the corner was his small friend, his head buried in his knees. His hair had been haphazardly cut, his arms covered in dirt and scratches.

"MU! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Alde cried, dropping the helmet on the center table and rushing to his friend's side.

The injured child looked up and stared at the wall in front of him, tears streaming down his scraped face. "After you left, he came."

"Ales?"

Mu nodded. "He brought others, more people. Bigger trainees. They touched and moved everything in here…I-I couldn't fight… it-it was too much." He buried his head back into his knees as a few more sobs escaped.

It made sense to Aldebaran- when in the forge last night, Vaca was very uptight about him touching anything he didn't ask for, or to put it back _exactly_ where it was when he was done looking at it.

It was as if everything needed to be in its place in order for Mu to function.

Alde picked up his friend in his arms, the bullying victim responding by curling up and burying his face in his shoulder.

"I-I think I was born wrong," Mu said with a hiccup, feeling too distressed to hold back his thoughts. "My mother and father probably knew it too. They wouldn't say anything though." He wiped his runny nose on his sleeve as he continued his confession. "I don't know why I can't use my eyes or my face like everyone else." he said miserably as his voice cracked "And when the others insult me, I just feel even worse about it-because I know how obvious it is, regardless of how hard I try to just function like them."

Aldebaran remained silent as his comrade poured out his inner troubles. It was eye-opening to see the young blacksmith open up like this about his problems. He wished he had known sooner that his friend was suffering this much.

"Th-then these people who hate me for something I can't fix come in here," Mu raised his head to look around the room again at the damage, still unable to fully take it in. He took a deep breath when he beheld the destruction, squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth.

"AND THEY RUIN THE ONLY PLACE WHERE I DIDN'T FEEL BROKEN!"

He buried his head back into his comforter's shoulder and sobbed harder, the frustration and pain from the hate people had for him washing over him all at once.

Alde pat Vaca's back gently and turned his head toward him.

"Mu, listen to me. You're not broken, and you weren't born wrong. You're one of the most right people I've ever met. They need to be fixed for not seeing that." he said softly, putting his friend down and kneeling to his level. "The Pope saw that too, I'm sure. Why else would he choose you to be the next cloth blacksmith?"

Mu nodded, wiping the tears off his face. He looked up to the space between his friend's eyes. "A-and you're one of the most right people I've met too. Where you're from doesn't mean anything to me. They were born in the wrong place for thinking it matters."

Aldebaran began to tear up as well, warmed by such a sentiment from his best friend. The two hugged and slowly began to clean up around the forge.

Several hours later, they had placed everything back in its proper position. Mu and Aldebaran were re-polishing the pieces of the cracked gold cloth when they heard frantic footsteps approaching the forge.

"Is everything ok here?" a stressed voice said from the entryway. It was Shion, out of breath. The two boys looked to the man at the door, Aldebaran's eyes widening in alarm when he realized that he was looking at the Pope without his mask and headdress. He turned his head towards the ground.

Mu looked up to his master at the space between his eyes. "Yes. We cleaned up." He had returned to his normal, tranquil self by this point.

"Forget the things, how are you?!"

"W-we're fine your highness!" Aldebaran said almost militantly, getting up from the table and kneeling down at the man's feet.

The leader of the saints gave a relieved laugh, humored by the trainee's compulsion to stick with the formalities of the Sanctuary. He beckoned the youth to rise. "Good friends of my apprentice can look at me."

The tall child examined the Pope's gentle face, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "You don't seem as scary as I thought you'd be," he said, scratching behind his ponytail.

Shion chuckled again, but soon after a serious look crossed his face. "Well, rest assured I know who did this. And they will soon be very frightened of me indeed."

"There's no need for that." Mu said, approaching the Pope from the table as well.

"Oh no? Why not?" the man asked.

"Aldebaran and I were talking…we think the best way to get back at them-"

"-is to prove them wrong!" the tall boy finished for his friend, giving a huge grin.

"I see, so does that mean you'll be getting the Taurus cloth?" Shion asked, intrigued by their plan. "I had heard a very distinct boy from across the sea was the new candidate."

The muscular boy pounded his chest. "That would be me!"

"And," the psychic said with a small smile, "I will pass your challenge, master."

The Pope looked down at the two prodigies. "Well, I look forward to it." He said with a warm beam.

With the Trial of the Bull two months away, the boys wasted no time in preparing. Aldebaran was given twice the meat he was normally given for lunch, and did several dozens of exercises during their break time before he ate. Mu would intensify the workouts by using his gift to either make the gravity around his tall friend stronger, or whatever he was lifting or dragging twice as heavy. And whenever the athlete felt too fatigued to continue, the psychic would encourage him with his calm demeanor to press on.

At night, Mu would work relentlessly on the cloth, slowly beginning to make progress. There were still several large cracks on the armor, but many of the smaller ones began to disappear thanks to the little blacksmith's care. He began trying to place the cloth together in its object form, hoping that connecting the pieces into the constellation it represented would give him an idea of how to fix the cloth further. The two debated what creature it could be as he constructed it, but eventually they agreed that it was probably a ram. Going off this guess, Mu theorized that he was repairing the cloth of Aries. He still didn't know who it belonged to, though.

Keeping the pieces in that position, the smith would call his friend in when he thought he had done the correct fixes to the cracks. However, the cloth would only emit a faint glow before collapsing again. Alde always gave him the silver lining in his progress, motivating him to keep going.

It was now a week away from the Trial, and the Taurus candidate's tension replaced his normally upbeat nature. He couldn't remember the last time he was this nervous about something, fears crowding his thoughts as the date of the trial crept closer. He sat beside Vaca outside the forge, both of them resting as they looked up to the night sky above. He had been watching is opponent, Tahvo, training that morning. Tahvo was a grown man, about twice his size easily. His muscles were huge and hulking, veins popping out on his skin all over. He described his opponent to his friend, who blinked as he tried to imagine the massive rival.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall, they say," he finally said at an attempt at comfort.

"But what if he does win? The others will never let me hear the end of it."

"I'll take care of them for-"

" _I_ need to be able to take care of them myself!" Aldebaran said frustratingly, getting up to pace back and forth. "No matter what, I'm never strong enough to do what needs to be done! I mean back home," he said, slowing his pace as memories came back to him, before pacing even faster. "I couldn't stop the strangers from hurting my mom every night…I wasn't strong enough to stay there and help her…" tears began to form in his eyes. "I don't even know if she was able to stand up to them alone…" he plopped down onto the ground, with a look of sorrow on his face- he couldn't bear the thought of what could have happened at home when he left.

"And on my own, I still got caught by the police all the time. I should have been strong enough to fight them back! If only they didn't have guns…" the boy's brows furrowed. "If only I were strong enough to take bullets!" he said as he crossed his arms in frustration.

"Plus, all of the training I went through out there in the wild! There were plenty of times I nearly died! And I'm supposed to be able to stand up to anything?!" He looked up to his friend, his tone growing desperate out of fear. "I wasn't there to help you when those morons messed up the workshop! All of that work, all of our efforts even now to prove those jerks wrong- it would be for nothing if I fail!" He pounded his fist into the ground, burying it almost a foot deep into the soil. "How can I be strong, how can I protect Athena, if every time I need to be the strongest, I can't do it?" he asked in despair as he buried his face in his hands.

Mu struggled to figure out the right words to say. "Of the people I have met, you have been the strongest anyone possibly can be. It doesn't matter if you fail." He said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

The upset youth didn't seem to really hear him. Words weren't going to reach him.

Mu's eyes darted with a bit of urgency about the ground, thinking of the best way to lift Aldebaran's spirits. When an idea finally crossed his mind, he rushed quickly into his forge.

"Vaca?" Aldebaran asked in confusion as he lifted his head up. He watched his training companion rush in and out of the workshop, dropping various pieces of equipment and cloths onto the ground. Once he was satisfied, he picked up a few hammers, and started banging the pieces. The noise he made was clunky at first, but slowly it became more coherent. The various beats, high or deep, began to combine into a song.

Alde's feet began to tap to the rhythm, a smile forming on his face once he recognized the tune.

It was the beat to the Carnival song he mentioned to Mu, when he first visited the forge.

Hearing the familiar tune, the trainee's troubles began to slowly fade away. The urge to dance from happier memories swept in. He leapt up from his spot and began to dance around in the rocks and dust, spinning and prancing around the impromptu drummer.

Mu's eyes were bright, and a grin emerged as he found his idea to be a successful one. He let out a giggle, the first he ever had in his life as he saw his friend happy again. It motivated him to drum faster, putting more energy into it as his grin grew wider.

Once the psychic had the rhythm and notes down, he let the hammers and tools continue playing as he joined his friend in his dancing. The two held hands and spun, falling to the ground laughing once they were too dizzy.

The voices of two young boys, backed by the melody of metal, carried into the star-filled evening.

At long last, it was time. The Trial of the Bull was to take place a few minutes out from Athens itself, along the shore of Mediterranean Sea. The Pope sat in a chair, high above the crowd on a platform. His traditional golden headdress and mask were on, and he was wearing special golden robes for this ceremony. Past the shore, several miles away, was the Taurus Gold cloth box atop a gigantic black marble pillar. The high noon sky above was a crystal clear blue. The hot air was filled with the electricity from the onlookers of the event, all feeling eager and privileged to behold this age old tradition.

Mu sat in a small chair beside the Pope. He looked down from the platform to his friend, who was standing by the shoreline. The deep blue waters gently brushed his feet, which were strapped into calf-high Grecian sandals. Both he and Tahvo were dressed in white chitons (6) for the event, with a thin golden belt around their waists. Aldebaran looked straight ahead, trying not to feel intimidated by the hulk of a man beside him who hurled insults his way.

(6 - Grecian clothing)

The boys who had ransacked the workshop were tasked with setting up the platform and the other items for the trial as punishment by the pope. Already exhausted from having to stay up all night for preparations, they dragged two heavy statues over to the competitors to carry. The statues were each carved to look like a woman wearing her own chiton. Her arms were carved in such a way that they wrapped around the tops of their arms like straps, causing Aldebaran's knees to buckle with the weight and loss of mobility. They were to make it to the cloth with the stone girl on their backs unharmed, so breaking the weight was not an option.

"Behold before you, fellow saints, the Trial for the cloth of the Bull, the form the great Zeus once took," the Pope began, as some guards blew horns and others banged drums. "May he who possesses the mightiest strength of body and character reach his reward! May he uphold the Laws of Athena and defend her will for the greater good! May he become the lightning god incarnate with his power!" The crowd of saints and trainees roared, their cries causing the ground to rumble.

The Pope stretched out his hand to the ocean as the calm waters began to stir. The clouds darkened and thunder rumbled as the sea waves began to grow and crash with a boom. Soon, it looked as though the two candidates were about to wade into a hurricane. Sharp rocks rose from the sea floor, creating deadly obstacles to navigate. The two candidates would have to fight the violent waves and hazards to reach their prize.

Aldebaran could hear his heartbeat in his ears. His eyes were fixed on the golden gleam atop the tall pillar, a shining beacon in the heart of the squall. "I must make it," he chanted to himself, "I need to be the strongest…"

A trumpet blared, signaling the start of the race. Both competitors waded into the choppy water, their brute strength pushing them ahead. Waves crashed against them, with Tahvo brushing them off due to his towering size. Aldebaran, however, was often swept up in them, forcing him to fall back. Saltwater filled his mouth and nose as he pushed against the wind and waves to push ahead.

A quarter of the way there, Tahvo was several yards ahead. Realizing he was still too short to crush the rocks at point blank as Tahvo was doing with ease, Aldebaran ignited his cosmos to break some of the sharp rocks ahead of him. As the rocks shattered, Aldebaran rushed ahead, the shards scraping his legs.

The red water trail behind him continued as he gained a little bit of a lead at the halfway point. He felt something swipe him from the side, causing him to be carried back by the undertow of a massive wave.

Tahvo laughed, having thrown the punch that set his competitor back. Aldebaran grabbed onto a rock before he was slid back any further than the yards he already had been, his face cut up and bloodied by the other crags and rocks in the path. His open wounds stung from the salt, and the relentless waves crashing on him blurred his vision.

"LISTEN KID!" Tahvo shouted through the howling wind so that his opponent could hear him. "GIVE UP! YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR ME! I'D BEAT YOU AGAINST ALL ODDS!"

Something in Alde clicked. "But, I have beaten so many odds before," he realized. Here he was, this kid who should have died in the streets or in the wild, battling it out with a man twice his size on a whole other part of the planet. What were the chances of accomplishing all that?

And who was to say he couldn't beat this challenge, either?

A newfound strength overcame the boy, as the rock he was holding on to began to crumble from his grip.

"NO, TAHVO, YOU'RE WRONG." He shouted through the waves, which had become even stronger still. "I SAY WHAT MY ODDS ARE! AND I SAY," he roared as he pushed ahead, running through the rapids to catch up with his opponent. "I CAN FACE ANYTHING!"

His body began to glow gold as he ignited his cosmos to its fullest potential. Aldebaran clenched his fists and punched the tempestuous waters ahead of him with a furious battle cry. A golden ray shot from his hands, splitting the water ahead of him in two. It created a path for him to dash through with all the speed his legs could give him, getting him up to the pillar's base before the waters crashed again. He began to climb the pillar, the weight of the stone maiden almost leaning him far back enough to fall. His grip slipped occasionally from the salt water and the blood from his wounds.

Despite this he pressed on, kicking his feet into the smooth surface of the pillar to make dents for his stability. He was inches away from reaching the top, when he felt himself get jerked back. His grip loosened, and he screamed in shock as he now dangled upside down. The only thing that kept him from falling to his death was Tahvo's grip on his ankle.

The massive opponent laughed as he held onto the child. Aldebaran quickly swung his body back and forth, giving himself enough momentum to punch the pillar. His rival's grip loosened as he needed the free hand to stay clung to the column. Alde took this as his chance to catch up on his lost distance ascending the pillar, using all of his might in a frenzy to meet the marble edge too. He pushed his body up to the top of the pillar, struggling to hang on as the winds became stronger. He stretched his arm out as far as he could, just grabbing a corner of the box with his hand. Becoming overwhelmed with excitement, he tried to pull himself closer to it only to be interrupted.

Once again he was jerked back by his ponytailed hair, looking to see that Tahvo had joined him on the top of the pillar. The hulking man punched the child, sending him back to the platform's edge. Tahvo grabbed the box, standing up and raising it over his head in triumph. Aldebaran's heart sank in defeat and exhaustion, hanging his head in shame as tears began to form in his eyes. However, he soon heard Tahvo's cheers of victory turn to cries of panic. He looked up to see what was happening.

The stone maiden on the man's back was growing heavier and brought him to his knees. Her eyes turned red, and her serene face began to change into that of a screaming woman with sharp teeth.

"STRENGTH ALONE DOTH NOT EARN YOU THE HORNS," the statue seemed to wail.

Tahvo screamed in terror, losing his balance as the stone woman shrieked. He dropped the box as the woman's stone arms seemed to move, tugging him back to the edge of the pillar and eventually off of it. His screams faded as Aldebaran watched him fall to his death in the sea. Once he had fallen, the storm began to calm. The waves began to return to normal, and the rocks receded back into the ocean floor. The sun began to peek its rays through the black clouds. The violent winds relaxed once more into a gentle summer breeze.

The boy looked down, silently crossing himself for his fallen foe. After a brief prayer to his deity, his stone woman felt like she was dissolving away into nothing from his back. He paused, swearing that he heard a soft voice from his statue, finishing what the demonic one had begun to say:

"For the might of the bull is in his spirit."

Aldebaran laid his tired and bloody hands once more on his destined armor, disappearing from the top of the pillar in a golden flash of light.

he reappeared at the starting point of the race before the Pope's platform. A loud mix of cheers greeted the new Taurus saint, with his new cloth box in his arms. Mu was jumping up and down with joy for his friend, his face beaming. The Pope looked down at the weary youth, who kneeled down with a huge smile on his face. He clenched his fists and craned his neck up to the sun, shouting out a victory cry as he raised his arms to the sky.

His head was light with delirium and his breathing was still fast from adrenaline. The champion looked on as the golden container began to move. The box flew open as the pieces of the gold cloth flew together into the shape of a bull, emitting a flash of blinding gold light. The gilded bull floated in the air before slowly landing on the ground before its new owner. Aldebaran approached the cloth, picking up the helmet with trembling hands. Admittedly, it was heavier than he expected it to be- its weight made him wobble.

"Aldebaran of Brazil," Shion began. "Unto you, the gods have bestowed the cloth of Taurus!"

The crowd cheered again, with the boom of the drums playing within the clamor. With the wave of his hand, the Pope gestured to the crowd to quiet down. The new saint kneeled, his hand on one knee while the other rested on his helmet.

"As a saint of gold, you are not only bound to the Laws of Athena, but your life is now the law itself. Do you swear to protect her will with your life, and with your life after death?"

"This I swear!" Aldebaran shouted with all his might. He had played this moment over and over in his head once he heard he was a candidate. The reality of it happening was so much sweeter than he could have imagined.

"Do you swear to only use the cloth for the sake of Athena, to the best of your judgement?"

"This I swear!"

"Do you swear to guard the house of Taurus from those who would defile it and the will of Athena?"

"THIS I SWEAR!"

"Then rise."

The Taurus saint complied, holding the golden helmet in his hands tightly by its horns that protruded from either side.

"Behold unto you all on this day a new gold saint- TAURUS ALDEBARAN!"

The crowd's racket was uncontrollable in celebration, as horns blared and drums played once more. Aldebaran turned to the crowd and held up his helmet with pride, his arms shaking from the weight of the piece. Once the crowd died down, the Pope continued.

"Aldebaran, you are now bonded to the cloth. Its life is your life, your blood now its blood, your breath-"

"BLOOD!" a small voice boomed. The crowd murmured, wondering who would dare disrupt the great leader.

Mu appeared in a flash of light beside the Taurus saint. His eyes were wide and frenzied as he tugged on his ally's tattered clothes. He had had an epiphany. His own mind had clicked, and yet he had no way to communicate any of this; he was far too hysterical from attaining the revelation.

"M-Mu, are you ok?" Aldebaran asked his friend, concerned.

Mu could only get squeaks and noises out of his throat.

"Do you need me to go with you somewhere?" Alde asked

His friend nodded.

" _Right now?!_ "

Vaca nodded furiously.

"Alright, let's get going!"

In a flash of light the two boys and the Taurus cloth were gone, leaving the crowd very confused.

They arrived a few yards away from the forge, a stillness in the air since the majority of the Sanctuary members were still by the shore.

"What is it?!" Aldebaran asked, his new helmet still in his hands.

"I KNOW!" Mu cried as he grabbed his friend by the chiton, racing towards the workshop. "I KNOW HOW TO FIX IT!"

Aldebaran couldn't believe it. "HOW?!" he exclaimed.

"Let me get the cloth in the fire first, and I'll explain!"

He began throwing pieces of the armor into the oven, ordering the Taurus saint to get him various tools from around the workshop. Aldebaran brought them to his friend, who was quickly repeating the same process he had done over and over again with the pieces before to fix the final major cracks. He struck the hot metal with his hammer, sprinkling the stardust sand on it or rapidly whacking gammanium pieces to meld them with the cloth. This time though, he was putting more energy into it than he had ever done towards anything in his life.

"Master said your cloth is now tied to your life, right?!" Mu asked, turning to his friend for a brief moment as he dashed about the workshop.

"Yeah, I guess," he replied with a shrug, thinking it was just some poetic garbage. "Isn't it just fancy words though?"

"NO! When cloths are severely damaged or old, master would tell me that they needed the life of a saint put into them again! I never knew what he meant until just now! They need blood!"

"H-How much blood?" Aldebaran asked, nervously wondering if he would have to offer what little amount he had left in his body. He even began to grow woozy at the idea of giving up more of it.

"I honestly don't think that much for this one, since I've done a lot of the repair work without it," he replied, feeling an extreme amount of pride for the progress he had made without his breakthrough. "I think it just needs a little bit to complete this work I just did." He said as he beheld the white-hot plates trying to fuse with the sand and mythical metal.

The cracks began to repair themselves again as they had done before. Mu wasted no time in getting all the pieces into the ram form. Right before it collapsed again, the psychic focused his cosmos to keep it together, lifting the wobbly pieces off the table and placing them on the ground.

"B-but Mu, it's pretty much a miracle I haven't bled to death yet! Whose blood are you supposed to use?" the weary boy asked.

Mu swiped his hands across the sharp tip of one of the ram's horns, clenching his red fists as he raised them over the wobbling pieces. There was too much adrenaline running through the small boy to care about the pain of his gashes. His own golden cosmos was burning brightly in preparation for what was to come next.

"Don't you see? This is why he gave the cloth to me to fix! This means he wanted me to become a saint too! He wants me to use MINE!"

The smith opened his palms and smacked them across the front of the four-legged metallic animal, smearing blood wildly across it and throwing streaks of scarlet on the large cracks. The red blood turned a shimmering white as it melded into the cloth. The whole cloth's wobbling pieces connected together with a metallic click, the cracks at long last remaining repaired. The pieces glowed a brilliant gold as they came together. The boys beheld the beautiful golden ram cloth, which suddenly let out a violent bust of energy as it came back to life. Caught off-guard by the blast, the boys were lifted off of their feet and sent hurling back. Their backs slammed against the wall behind them. They then hit the floor with an ungraceful thud.

Recovering from the shockwave, they looked up and saw the rejuvenated Aries cloth before them, shining radiantly.

They both looked to each other and leapt up in bliss, the happiest they had ever been in their lives. They shouted for joy and hugged as their hearts felt like they could burst from their triumph.

"It seems you figured it out," an older voice said behind them.

They turned to see Shion at the entrance. He took off his headdress and kneeled in front of the two. He took one of the polishing cloths off the table and began to wrap his apprentice's cuts.

"Mu, you now know why I gave you this cloth to repair. It was mine before I became Pope. I waited a very long time to find someone who I felt would be able to wear it," he said as he picked up the curved horns. "And now I'm surer than ever it was well worth the wait." He handed them to Mu, who found the solid gold decorations rather hefty, too.

"Mu of Jamir," Shion began, "Unto you, the gods have bestowed the cloth of Aries, and the title of the Cloth Blacksmith. Do you swear to protect Athena's will with your life, and with your life after death?"

Tears were forming in the corners of Mu's eyes as he look up to his master. He almost choked on his reply. "This I swear."

"Do you swear to only use the cloth for the sake of Athena, to the best of your judgement?"

"This I swear."

"Do you swear to guard the house of Aries…next to the house of Taurus-" he said turning to Aldebaran. The two gasped as they realized the coincidence, looking to each other gleefully. Shion chuckled and continued "from those who would defile it and the will of Athena?"

"This I swear!"

"Behold unto you on this day two new Gold Saints, Taurus Aldebaran and Aries Mu!"

The two new gold saints smiled from cheek to cheek. They danced around and cried in delight. Not only had they reached their goals, but they would be close by in their new oath to defend Athena.

"Now, my new saints, please do me a favor."

The two turned to their leader.

"Don't go disappearing in the middle of a ceremony again unless it's a real emergency, ok?"

The children blushed. They nodded in unison as they tried to don their new horns, swaying as the far-too-large armor almost knocked them over. They even tried bumping into each other like their namesake animals, only to topple over from the weight of their horns before they made contact.

"Very good. Now then, go head down to the courtyard. Lots of food awaits you both for your efforts."

The two young saints looked to each other with excitement as they dashed off-balanced to the banquet.

As they left, Shion's heart warmed at a realization when he was speaking with his new Aries and Taurus saints.

Mu had looked them both in the eyes.


End file.
